The Riley Factor #119

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
June 5, 2012, Issue No. 119
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley and the Littles -- The Golden Boy and Gabby rule the roost with iron paws.  Well, actually, they are both pretty sedate as long as they get-in their 2-3 mile run every day.  The four (I know, a ridiculous number) cats, AJ, Stryder, Arwen and Izzy, alternately sleep, hunt, demand petting, and snarl at one another.  Typical family.

Plowing and Planting -- Fast and furious this year.  Grains, potatoes and sweet potatoes were in the ground in March.  Corn and all sorts of vegetables were added in April and May, mostly transplants from the greenhouse.  Top crops are tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, several types of squash, asparagus, onions, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts.  The herb garden was replanted and expanded.  We also picked-up some bushes and flowers at a couple of spring auctions, and wedged-in some long-needed landscaping to the yard.

And They're Off -- May 19 was arrival day for our new horse, Blondie.  She is a 10-year-old mare, light chestnut in color, with blonde mane and tail.  A very pretty horse, and well-trained to ride and drive.  We got Blondie at an auction.  She was really unknown to the auction house - arrived the night before from Pennsylvania, dropped-off by her owner.  Her name is/was unknown, so we have named her Blondie.  She is a Halflinger breed, also referred to as Avelignese, a breed developed in the middle ages in Austria and Northern Italy, for use in mountainous terrain, and is energetic, well muscled and shorter than other breeds.  Rio and the cattle are getting along well with their new pasture mate.  She stands several inches smaller than Rio.

The Herd of Four -- Eli, Lily, Abe and Ike are all coexisting well in the barn.  The two little ones, two months old now, have yet to venture out into the pasture, but are healthy and growing well.  Lily is beginning to 'blossom', as her July 22 due-date approaches.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Weather has been good and we have gotten out early this year to clear and mow the trails and roads in the woods.  We have seen a few ducks and geese in the ponds, and the blue heron and egrets have returned.

Fowl Weather -- More turkey and chicken chicks arrive.  We now have two separate pens complete with heat lamps for the 27 chicken chicks and the 17 turkey chicks.  After nine of the first shipment of turkey chicks died in transport or shortly thereafter, the turkey supplier shipped another shipment of 10, waiting for warmer weather to hit the send button.  So this year, we actually have three different breeds of turkey ... domestic broad-breasted American whites, which are the most popular breed in the U.S., representing about 90% of all turkeys grown here, and standard bronze and Narragansetts. both heritage breeds.  Should be fun.  We also added four French Guinea Fowl to the mix, since our lone Keet has been flying solo around the place for over a year, having lost her 15 brothers and sisters to traffic and predators.  Now, our five Keets patrol the yard and fields in a group, and eat mainly ticks, along with other insects.

Visitors -- CJ and friend Rebecca dropped-in for a long weekend over Mother's Day.  Mark, Carolee, Zachary and Hunter Hannah visited from their Atlanta home for the Memorial Day picnic.  Also joining-in were Linda Cogswell from Western Mass, and her son Daryl and wife Sally and cousin Tanya, all from Toronto.
Blog -- The Riley Factor's official blog site is located at http://the-riley-factor.blogspot.com/.  It contains all issues to date.  (If you actually spend the time and search through our Internet site, you may need more help with your life than we are able offer....  But we digress.)

Quotes of the Month --
    
     Luck is for the unprepared. -- Donald 'Ducky' Mallard, NCIS
     What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end. -- an old proverb
     Not to speak is to speak.  Not to act is to act. -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian

     A large percentage of the American electorate is currently comprised of people who do not want to work, and who expect the government to provide them with everything.  Obama caters to these people. -- Ben Stein

     I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of protecting them. -- Thomas Jefferson

     Sometimes nature guards her secrets with the unbreakable grip of physical law.  Sometimes the true nature of reality beckons from just beyond the horizon. -- Brian Greene

     Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.  Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. -- Benjamin Franklin

     Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. -- Hebrews 13:2

     Women and men are equally trainable, and we are all paid for the choices we make. -- Nicole Petallides

     It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. -- Mark Twain

     IPO stands for 'It's Probably Overpriced.' -- Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch
Definition of the Month --

     INEPTOCRACY - A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least able of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

 
Commentary of the Month --

I'm 76 and  Tired

I'm 76.  Except for brief  period in the 50's when I was doing my  National
Service, I've worked hard  since I was 17. Except for some  serious
health challenges, I put in 50-hour weeks,  and didn't call in sick in nearly
40 years. I made  a reasonable salary, but I didn't inherit my job or  my
income, and I worked to get where I am. Given  the economy, it looks as
though retirement was a  bad idea, and I'm tired. Very tired.  
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who
don't  have my work ethic.  I'm tired of being told the  government will take
the money I earned, by force  if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.    I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day  I
can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing  their sisters, wives and
daughters for their family  "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some  slight
offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and  Jews because they aren't
"believers"; of Muslims  burning schools for girls; of Muslims  stoning
teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the
genitals of  little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the  Qur'an and
Shari'a law tells them to.  I'm tired of being told that  out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must  let
Saudi Arabia and  other Arab countries use our oil money to fund  mosques
and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate  in Australia, New  Zealand,
UK, America and Canada, while no one from  these countries are allowed to
fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other
Arab country to teach love and tolerance..    
I'm tired of being told I  must lower my living standard to fight  global
warming, which no one is allowed to  debate.

I'm  tired of being told that  drug addicts have a disease, and I must  help
support and treat them, and pay for the damage  they do.  Did a giant germ
rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses
or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off?
  I'm tired of hearing wealthy  athletes, entertainers and politicians of  all
parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid  mistakes or youthful
mistakes, when we all know  they think their only mistake was getting
caught.  I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich  or poor.

I'm really tired  of people who don't  take responsibility for their lives and
actions.  I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination
or big-whatever for their problems.

I'm also tired and fed up with seeing young  men and women in their teens and
early 20's be-deck themselves in tattoos and face studs, thereby making
themselves unemployable and claiming money from the Government.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But  I'm also glad to be 76.. Because, mostly, I'm  not
going to have to see the world these people are  making. I'm just sorry for
my  granddaughter and her children.  Thank God  I'm on the way out and not
on the way in. 

     Bill Cosby


And then there's this --
    
      Every great leader I've known had one quality in common: a strong propensity to give credit to others when things go right and take personal responsibility when things go wrong.  Yet by that standard, Obama is no leader at all.  Nearly four years into his term, he still blames high unemployment and the state of the economy on his predecessor. He blames his trillion-dollar-plus deficit on the intransigence of his political opponents, even though his own party can't even propose a budget.  He insists that middle class Americans are suffering because “the one percent” – the folks who take risks, create jobs and experience economic success – are somehow denying opportunity to the rest of us.  -- Alexander Green